These postage stamps from Bhutan in 1972 play like real vinyl
Listen to a recording from the world's smallest vinyl records
The Kingdom of Bhutan, which borders China and India along the Himalayas, is an unlikely contender for such phonographic innovations but once used playable vinyl records as postage stamps.
The ‘talking stamps’ were issued in 1972 in sets of 7 and were actually used to send mail. The tiny vinyls were made of plastic before being embossed with a melody and adhesive backs.
The one-sided 33 1/3 rpm vinyl records are still fully functioning today and mostly feature Bhutanese folk songs and a capsule history of the country read in English.
Hear a haunting version of the Bhutanese national anthem recording from a ‘talking stamp’ here.
The stamps, which were dreamed up by American entrepreneur Burt Todd, were recently rediscovered by collectors of rare vinyl and occasionally pop up on eBay for around $500.
Chris May investigated how the unsuspecting kingdom came to produce the ‘talking stamps’ in a lengthy feature by The Vinyl Factory (below).
[via The Vinyl Factory]
